I don't worry about what the turn order is or who I play before/after, but my playgroup has a lot of 5 and 6 player games on rectangular tables, and as the control player, I like to sit in the middle seats so I can see what's going on.
First, I agree with you that it's disappointing to lose to those big, splashy spells when you've been trying to grind out advantage. The other day, someone kicked Rite of Replication on Archangel of Tithes and clogged the whole board. Everyone struggled to slow that player down after that.
Would it be possible for you to put some of your lists on the forums? I'd like to see what your design philosophy is. It's possible that you're having trouble with these spells for a reason, and maybe this is less a complaint or troll thread and more a way of asking for advice without actually asking for advice. Just my thoughts. At the very least, what generals do you run?
“...it is said that if you know others and know yourself, you will not be imperiled in a hundred battles; if you do not know others but know yourself, you win one and lose one; if you do not know others and do not know yourself, you will be imperiled in every single battle.” - Sun Tzu, The Art of War
Alternative Commanders Anafenza, the Foremost - Action_Mane has a great Anafenza Primer on the forums, focusing on hate-bears. If you’re looking at her as a viable choice, I strongly recommend reading it.. She’s a more aggressive choice for a deck, and her ability shuts down a very common strategy for your opponents.
Daghatar the Adamant - Most of the lists I’ve seen are tribal Warriors, with a small +1/+1 counter subtheme. As far as Abzan commanders go, he’s fairly under the radar, and there are some advantages to having an under-the-radar commander.
Ghave, Guru of Spores - Ghave is either a combo or token general. Either way, he’s going to be following a much different strategy than Doran. If you want to be the threat from early turns, Ghave is a good general to do it with.
Karador, Ghost Chieftain - If you’re more interested in creating graveyard shenanigans, Karador is your guy. I ran him for a bit and found great success with Birthing Pod into Sheoldred, Whispering One. However, in a meta with a fair amount of graveyard hate, Karador folds more quickly, and he inspires people to start running it.
Teneb, the Harvester - Teneb doesn’t point in any particular direction as a commander, which makes him a good substitute for Doran or Karador. He’s an efficient flyer with a powerful reanimation ability on combat damage, but it’s unlikely you’ll get a lot of triggers, so it’s best not to build around him.
I chose Doran for a variety of reasons. First, his art and flavor text both clicked for me and for what I wanted to run. I was looking for a gritty commander that never felt out of it. Doran is a survivor, he’s been around for centuries, and he’s not going to go away just because the boardstate’s not perfect. Strategically, Doran’s size is respectable in EDH, and his ability changes the game in a fundamental way, and one that I originally wanted to focus on. And finally, the other generals in Abzan colors didn’t speak to me in the same way Doran did.
If you enjoy reactive strategies, making decisions, and proper threat assessment/game analysis, this could be the deck for you. If your idea of power is Decree of Pain with Harvester of Souls in play for 30 cards or smashing for 13 general damage and untapping your lands, he’s got your back. If you want your games to play out differently each time, Doran’s your man treefolk!
You want to use your graveyard, but not be reliant on it.
You want a deck that’s both consistent and plays out differently each time.
You won’t like Doran If:
You’re looking for a deck with a proactive plan.
You or your meta requires counterspell protection.
You’re looking for something fast.
I’ve been playing Doran on and off since 2010. In that time, he’s been through most of the iterations I can imagine for him. He started off as a “Toughness Matters” aggro deck that played cards like Grizzled Leotau and tried to win quickly, then morphed from there into a Treefolk Tribal build. That was perfectly competitive in one of my two playgroups, but wasn’t getting there with any consistency in the tougher one. After some thought and after looking at successful decklists from Legacy, Standard, and Extended, I settled on Rock.
Rock control is a tried and true archetype that tries to win the game by grinding out games with efficient removal, discard, and draw before winning with efficient, if not splashy, beaters. Examples include Darwin Castle’s The Rock at Pro Tour Houston in 2002, Calcano’s Doran Rock online in 2010, and John Finkel’s Seasons Past Control at Pro Tour Shadows over Innistrad in 2016. To make these concepts work in EDH, some adjustments were necessary. First, discard isn’t a powerful enough strategy for EDH unless you commit heavily to it. Second, the creatures in competitive Rock decks are powerful by their formats’ standards, but overall not enough for EDH.
”Governing a large number as though governing a small number is a matter of division into groups. Battling a large number as though battling a small number is a matter of forms and calls.” - Sun Tzu, The Art of War
I’m categorizing cards in a similar way to Krimsonmask in his Kresh the Bloodbraided primer. As in his deck, cards often fill several roles, and will be categorized according to their most-used role but tagged with all roles. Categories include the following.
Ramp - The deck doesn’t have all that many earth-shatteringly big spells, but it’s ideal to be able to hold up spot removal or drop a threat after sweeping.
Draw - While draw isn’t the strongest part of the deck, there are enough ways to keep cards flowing that I haven’t had problems.
Recursion - Recursion is our main card advantage engine.
Voltron - Doran is fat, but he doesn’t have evasion. Any equipment in the deck turns him into a 3 turn clock.
Sweeper - Every EDH deck needs a way or two to reset things when they’re going poorly, and Doran is no exception.
Removal - The bread and butter of the deck, Doran runs plenty of efficient, versatile removal spells.
Tutor - It’s good to have the option to find what you need in the moment. The deck’s tutors help you out.
Tokens - Tokens can be an excellent source of card advantage, don’t feel bad to sacrifice, and are wonderful to have around.
Land - The deck runs a somewhat higher than normal number of utility lands.
I’ll also be rating each card by how it’s performed for me. t - Something I don’t have does this job better, or it’s proven to be weak. tt - Solid role-player. Sometimes it’s a dead draw, but most of the time it’s good. ttt - An all-star. I’ve rarely been disappointed to draw it.
Ramp
Sol Ring (Ramp) - tt - Having Sol Ring in the deck is my nod to the format. I don’t like it, and I don’t think it’s critical in my list, but sometimes you get explosive starts involving Doran and Slagwurm Armor, and then it reminds me why it’s nice to have. Dawntreader Elk (Ramp) - tt - Dawntreader Elk and Sakura-Tribe Elder are efficient ramp options that have the benefit of being recurrable with almost every engine in the deck. The main danger is that there’s a real possibility of running out of targets for them, due to the mana-base’s complexity. Sakura-Tribe Elder (Ramp) - tt - See Dawntreader Elk. Nissa, Vastwood Seer (Ramp, Draw, Tokens) - ttt - Nissa isn’t actually an early drop. I never want her to hit the table before I have 6 mana, and I want her to flip right away. Once she does, however, she becomes an engine that’s almost as effective as Phyrexian Arena with no downsides. She also has the potential to close out a stalled-out game with her -7. Wood Elves (Ramp) - t - Wood Elves is still here because it finds any Forest, which means it’s helpful for fixing mana. Other than that, the body is unimpressive and similar effects exist on more useful creatures. Burnished Hart (Ramp) - tt - Burnished Hart is similar to Dawntreader Elk and Sakura-Tribe Elder except that he can be recurred with Glissa as well as the other options. Garruk Wildspeaker (Ramp, Tokens) - ttt - Garruk is in the deck for his +1. Untapping two lands nets at least two and sometimes three mana a turn, and he’s relatively low-threat due to the relative lack of creatures. His -1 beasts aren’t big enough to serve as attackers, but his ultimate sometimes helps punch in lethal on someone. Solemn Simulacrum (Ramp, Draw) - ttt - Sad Robot is usually a solid role-player in my decks, but when he’s combined with Glissa, the Traitor and one of the sacrifice lands, he turns into an absolute beast. I’ve had games where he died 7 times, and he generates so much value when he does.
Draw
Sensei’s Divining Top (Draw) - ttt - Top doesn’t usually provide proper draw, but its card selection is solid. We run 19 shuffle effects, so with some patience we can see a lot of cards every turn. Seeing cards is important for control. Phyrexian Arena (Draw) - tt - Doran needs to constantly refuel his hand to keep control of the game, and Arena helps alleviate the worst of the hand problems. The life-loss isn’t a huge problem once you’re online and Miren, the Moaning Well can offset the worst of it, and there are enough ways to get rid of it if you find yourself in trouble. Yavimaya Elder (Draw) - tt - Even more important than ramp is hitting land drops, and Yavimaya Elder ensures that you do. His self-sacrifice ability is very strong when coupled with a reanimation engine, as well. Harvester of Souls (Draw) - tt - On the opposite side of Phyrexian Arena is the Harvester. He usually comes down just before someone’s likely to sweep and often draws 10+ cards in one go. At the very worst, he’ll be a 2 for 1 in combat, and has potential to generate insane advantage.
Recursion
Eternal Witness (Recursion) - ttt - E-Wit synergizes well with Sun Titan and other reanimation effects, while still providing a powerful effect in the deck. I use her as a Green Snapcaster Mage most of the time, usually grabbing a spell to recast. Glissa, the Traitor (Recursion) - tt - Glissa is a powerful midgame engine that doesn’t generate a lot of threat. People don’t rate a thrice-recurred Solemn Simulacrum as scary as a thrice-recurred Sun Titan. At the worst, she’s going to get something back in combat, and she’ll often prevent attacks by virtue of her deathtouch. Karmic Guide (Recursion) - tt - I don’t run the Lark/Guide combo, not because I hate combos but because I don’t own a ‘Lark right now. Nonetheless, Karmic Guide’s reanimation is reasonably fairly-priced and her protections can make her a good equipment-carrier if the echo cost is paid. Primal Command (Recursion, Tutor, Removal) - tt - Primal Command is one of those spells that does a little of everything. Its primary purpose here is to reset my graveyard just before I go into late-game. It also finds a creature, or tucks an unwanted permanent and gets rid of a graveyard if I’m desperate. Adarkar Valkyrie (Recursion) - tt - Adarkar Valkyrie synergizes with Sun Titan to provide excellent sweeper protection, helps other creatures dodge targeted removal, and can take over a game if she’s unharrassed. She’s a solid Lightning Greaves target. Sun Titan (Recursion) - ttt Sun Titan grabs Swords and small creatures, and shoves them right back into play. Grabbing a dead Eternal Witness and removal. It’s actually rare I get to attack with him until there are only a couple players left, since people see him as a threat. Seasons Past (Recursion) - tt - This is half the engine that powered Finkel’s Rock deck in Pro Tour SoI. We use it the same way. It can grab a couple spot removal spells, a sweeper, a finisher, and a tutor, then do it again in a couple of turns. Sheoldred, Whispering One (Recursion, Removal) - ttt - If Doran is the king of the deck, Sheoldred is the queen. She demands removal, and if your opponents don’t have it, she quickly becomes a real problem. Following up a sweeper with Sheoldred is a good way to start wrapping up a game. Debtors’ Knell (Recursion) - ttt - Unlike Sheoldred, Debtors’ Knell doesn’t actively control your opponents’ boards, but it does grab the biggest threat in the entire game, every turn. My playgroup sees Sheoldred as more frightening, mostly because Debtors’ Knell never hits the table until the endgame, when players have been eliminated already.
Voltron
Slagwurm Armor (Voltron) - ttt - Ogre’s Cleaver costs 2 to play and 5 to equip for +5/+0. Slagwurm Armor effectively gives +6/+6 for 1 to play and 3 to equip. It’s the core of the voltron part of the deck by virtue of its efficiency. Lightning Greaves (Voltron) - tt - Lightning Greaves is a staple in Commander for a reason. Here, it enables speedy finishes and protects our engines. Sword of Body and Mind (Voltron, Tokens) - t - SoBaM is staying until I get my hands on Sword of War and Peace or Sword of Fire and Ice. Neither effect is amazingly powerful, so I’m running it for the protections. Sword of Feast and Famine (Voltron, Ramp) - ttt - SoFaF is everything Doran wants in an equipment. The protections aren’t super-relevant in my playgroup right now, but the ability to tap out and still hold up removal can’t be understated. The discard can lock someone down, as well. Elspeth, Knight-Errant (Voltron, Tokens) - tt - The odds of ultimating her are almost nonexistent, but her second +1 offers a fast way to give Doran (or any attacker) evasion. Her first +1 is pretty weak, but sometimes you just need someone to hold a weapon. Batterskull (Voltron) - tt - Batterskull and Stoneforge Mystic can bog down an unfriendly-looking late game until we can get engines online, and they can clog up the early raids people make in our meta. It’s also a solid equipment to toss on Doran or a flyer.
Sweeper
Wrath of God (Sweeper) - tt - It's a simple enough card, but it's cheap and effective. Fracturing Gust (Sweeper) - tt - There are a few people who rely on pillowforts to keep their ‘walkers alive in my meta, and this lets the tokens player kill ‘walkers without angering the rest of the board. It’s also a not-insignificant amount of life. Austere Command (Sweeper) - ttt - Shapeable sweepers are very powerful in EDH. Austere Command can leave you with Doran as the biggest thing in play, all your equipments, and nothing in the way. Elspeth, Sun’s Champion (Sweeper, Tokens) - tt - She doesn’t hit everything, but he’s got potential to repeat and she gums up the board between goes. Her emblem can also help close a game, should it come to that, though it’s never the plan when casting her. Bane of Progress (Sweeper) - tt - Ban of Progress eats all the artifacts and enchantments and then turns into a large dumb beater. He’s excellent if you can give him a form of evasion, but otherwise serves as a slower Fracturing Gust with a giant body. Merciless Eviction (Sweeper) - ttt - Merciless Eviction is here as Austere Command #2. It hits planeswalkers in addition to other things, but it’s less versatile. Exile is potent, however. Duneblast (Sweeper) - tt - Duneblast synergizes amazingly with Sheoldred, Whispering One. It’s also good for ending games by leaving Doran as the sole survivor. It’s expensive, but most sweepers that enable finishes this well are. Decree of Pain (Sweeper, Draw) - ttt - Comboing this with Harvester of Souls is a solid way to pull ahead. I never cycle it, since it’s almost always a better choice to take a few points of damage in exchange for the cards later on, but the flexibility is nice.
Removal
Path to Exile (Removal) - tt - Accelerating someone is a decision that needs thinking about, but Path to Exile is still one of the two premier creature removal spells in the format. Swords to Plowshares (Removal) - ttt - Life matters less than mana on the board, which is why Swords to Plowshares is rated higher than Path to Exile. It’s tough for opponents to play around either of these effects. Declaration in Stone (Removal, Sweeper) - tt - Most of the time, this and Maelstrom Pulse will be single-target removal, but sometimes they’ll blow out the token player. Be aware that Declaration in Stone can have a rather large drawback if your opponent has the mana to quickly sacrifice his clues. Malicious Affliction (Removal) - tt - Efficient creature removal with potential upside. Abrupt Decay (Removal) - ttt - It’s not as flexible as many cards in the deck, but the “cannot be countered” clause is a big deal. If there’s a combo deck at the table, I save either this or Krosan Grip for it. Qasali Pridemage (Removal) - tt - Rattlesnake effects are important in EDH, and Qasali Pridemage offers a solid one. He can often slow down combo players just by sitting on the board, and his Exalted ability allows Doran to be a slightly faster clock if needed. Oblation (Removal) - ttt - Oblation offers a political solution to critical combo pieces and out of control planeswalkers. Since the rules change regarding tucking generals, it’s less powerful, but still a go-to for me. Beast Within (Removal) - tt - Beast Within is almost always going to kill problem nonlands, unless you’re trying to set up a Slime lock on someone’s mana-base. The 3/3 is usually too small to be a threat by itself.
Krosan Grip (Removal) - ttt - Kills a lot of combos outright, and without giving your opponent a chance to protect it with counterspells.
Anguished Unmaking (Removal) - ttt - It kills everything, at instant speed, for three life. It’s an incredibly small price to pay in this format for that kind of flexibility. Mortify (Removal) - tt - I think of Mortify and Putrefy as creature removal with versatility, rather than as permanent removal. Of the options in the deck, it's the weakest removal, but it's still sufficiently flexible to be played. Maelstrom Pulse (Removal, Sweeper) - tt - See Declaration in Stone. Vindicate (Removal) - ttt - It kills everything. I’d give it four t’s if I could, but Vindicate certainly earns three. Angel of Finality (Removal) - tt - Easily-repeatable graveyard hate when you need it, a Sword carrier when you don’t. Silent Arbiter (Removal) - t - It’s not technically removal, but it stalls until you find some. A fair number of combos rely on the attack step to win, and it does good work against token-based decks and other decks that go wide. Archon of Justice (Removal) - tt - Archon of Justice is a wonderful rattlesnake, preventing attacks and potentially shutting down combos at instant speed. Most counterspells don’t handle abilities as well as spells, so it’s good to have a way around a counterspell wall. Acidic Slime (Removal) - ttt - Acidic Slime will almost always be at least a 2 for 1. Most of the time, he’s going to eat an artifact or enchantment, but in the late game, him plus Sheoldred can slowly lock an opponent out of their mana-base. It’s slow, but crushing once it gets going or when you have a Debtors’ Knell as well as a pair of sacrifice outlets. Yosei, the Morning Star (Removal) - tt - Yosei isn’t actually removal, but it’s possible to recur it with Debtors’ Knell or Sheoldred, Whispering One to lock someone out of the game. Angel of Despair (Removal) - tt - It blows up anything, then sits there as a respectable-sized flyer and beats face.
Tutor
Green Sun’s Zenith (Tutor) - ttt - There are plenty of targets for GSZ, so it’s a good cast any time in the game. I like getting an Acidic Slime, since there’s often a recursion engine and it can slowly shut someone down. Stoneforge Mystic (Tutor) - ttt - She gets Swords, she gets Armor, and she synergizes stupidly well with Batterskull. Demonic Tutor (Tutor) - tt - It’s a cheap, non-conditional tutor. I think I get sweepers about 40% of the time and land about 40% of the time with it. There’s nothing wrong with tutoring for lands so you don’t fall behind. Stonehewer Giant (Tutor) - tt - It’s Stoneforge Mystic but repeatable and more expensive. If it’s left alone, it can fill the board with equipments, but be aware of potential blowouts if you do that. Dark Petition (Tutor) - ttt - It’s a bit more expensive than Demonic Tutor, but the Spell Mastery will often be active and the two-drop slot is crowded when using Seasons Past. Increasing Ambition (Tutor) - tt - It’s expensive, and its Flashback mode is even more so, but the Flashback allows for increased versatility in the late game. Liliana Vess (Tutor) - tt - As a tutor with potential to repeat, Liliana is a powerful engine. Her +1 also offers one of only two discard effects in the game, and her ultimate is a real game-winner, unlike the other walkers’.
Land
Bojuka Bog (Land, Removal) - tt - It’s a staple. It gets rid of Graveyards and then acts as a swamp for most respects. Grim Backwoods (Land, Draw) - ttt - This with any of our ETB creatures can generate lots of card advantage. It’s expensive, but it keeps you in the game when things are stalling out. Khalni Garden (Land, Tokens) - t - Part of me thinks this could be an extra Forest, but the token’s a relatively unthreatening sword-carrier, and I’ve found I don’t need the speed so much. Miren, the Moaning Well (Land) - ttt - I’ve won games because players forgot about Miren, attacked for exactly lethal, and weren’t ready for the sacrificed Sun Titan to buy an extra turn. It’s a potent engine with the deck’s ETB creatures, as well. Mistveil Plains (Land, Recursion) - tt - Putting spells back into the deck is an effective enough way to see them again, given the number of turns we want the game to go and the number of shuffle effects in the deck (19). It’s also a good way to save important things from Graveyard hate. Reliquary Tower (Land) - tt - We have potential to draw very large numbers of cards off of Decree of Pain and Harvester of Souls, so having one of these is often critical. Saltcrusted Steppe (Land, Ramp) - tt - Most of the time, this is just one colorless mana, but it comes in untapped and gives you something to do when there’s nothing that needs killing. It can lead to some massive late-game turns for little investment, since that mana was going to waste anyways. Strip Mine (Land, Removal) - tt - Strip Mine and Tectonic Edge eat problem lands. And, yes, there are always problem lands. Don’t use them to cripple someone’s mana-base unless it’s down to two and you’re going for a Slime lock. Tectonic Edge (Land, Removal) - tt - See Strip Mine. Westvale Abbey (Land, Tokens) - tt - Westvale Abbey puts pressure on the table. Its front side provides endless chump blockers, provided Miren is around to sacrifice them, and Ormendhal, Profane Prince is a massive flying clock.
Like all decks, Doran has a list of things on his radar to pick up. Most of these are lands, but there are a few spells as well.
Many decks take on a proactive role in winning the game. For instance, Nissa, Vastwood Seer wants to ramp into fatties, and Alesha, Who Smiles at Death is trying to reanimate small creatures and then get them killed in combat for fun and profit. Doran, however, is different.
Since Doran is trying to grind out a long game, his whole plan is to disrupt his opponents’ strategy. It’s very reactive rather than proactive, which can be dangerous. I’ve found a lot of success in following Sun Tzu’s wisdom from The Art of War. I’ve tried to translate what Sun Tzu says into situations in a typical game with Doran, and hope I’ve succeeded.
”The flow of water is determined by the earth, the victory of a military force is determined by the opponent.
So a military force has no constant formation, water has no constant shape: the ability to gain victory by changing and adapting according to the opponent is called genius.” – Sun Tzu, The Art of War
Ground: Some Strategic Considerations
Sun Tzu speaks of both terrain and ground, but while both are illuminating, I find that there’s more value in talking about ground. In the case of EDH, all nine types of ground are represented by board-states and by the actions players are taking.
B”When local interests fight among themselves on their own territory, this is called a ground of dissolution.” – Sun Tzu, The Art of War
In the early game, most ground is ground of dissolution. Early combats tend to be small in my metagame, and often involve trying to kill a planeswalker or drive in a few points of damage. It’s important not to let these opportunistic attacks break up potential alliances later. Do not give battle here for the sake of punishing an aggressor.
G”When you enter others’ land, but not deeply, this is called light ground.” – Sun Tzu, The Art of War
Conversely, don’t let your own early raids turn into larger battles. If you hit an opponent and he hits you back despite an obviously better target, it’s often for the best to move on and leave that player alone for a while. Engaging in an early conflict is a sure way to fall behind as Doran.
W”Land that would be advantageous to you if you got it and to opponents if they got it is called ground of contention.” – Sun Tzu, The Art of War
Sun Tzu recommends that you not fight over ground of contention. I agree. It’s more important to preserve your strength than to gain a minor advantage. It should be noted that this isn’t the kind of advantage that would win you the game, but something trivial. Don’t fight them if they decide to counter your Solemn Simulacrum.
B”Land where you and others can come and go is called a trafficked ground.” – Sun Tzu, The Art of War
Mutually-advantageous resources, like Jace Beleren or Howling Mine are wonderful for Doran, in moderation. Let them live unless they get out of hand.
G”Land that is surrounded on three sides by competitors and would give the first to get it access to all...is called intersecting ground.” – Sun Tzu, The Art of War
Intersecting ground is political ground. Sometimes you can use your masses of removal to convince a player to take an action in return for a favor, or you can trade a kill spell for an attack. Sun Tzu says to form lines of communication on intersecting ground.
W”When you enter deeply into others’ land, past many cities and towns, this is called heavy ground.” – Sun Tzu, The Art of War
Sometimes, it’s necessary to press an attack. In a situation where you’re attempting to kill off one player, it’s often necessary to destroy his creatures and sometimes even to throw them against their owner. Commit, and use your foe’s resources against him when possible.
B”When you traverse mountain forests, steep defiles, marshes, or any route difficult to travel, this is called bad ground.” – Sun Tzu, The Art of War
On bad ground, Sun Tzu recommends you move on. Even if you should see an opening, it’s sometimes best to ignore it if another opponent has high damage ready to go before you untap.
G”When the way in is narrow and the way out is circuitous, this is called surrounded ground.” – Sun Tzu, The Art of War
If one opponent has an almost overwhelming advantage, it’s important to start coming up with a way to chip away at that advantage. Sometimes, it’s as simple as one well-timed removal spell, but sometimes it might take multiple sweepers. Regardless, plan or die.
W”When you will survive if you fight quickly and perish if you do not, this is called dying ground.” – Sun Tzu, The Art of War
Sometimes the only way to survive an endgame with two powerful opponents is to create an opening for one to fight the other, and that means committing your board in the hope of driving through just enough damage or removing just enough blockers. There’s nothing wrong with using your resources in this way.
Opening Hand
”Military action is important to the nation–it is the ground of death and life, the path of survival and destruction, so it is imperative to examine it.
Therefore measure in terms of five things, use these assessments to make comparisons, and thus find out what the conditions are. The five things are the way, the weather, the terrain, the leadership, and discipline.” – Sun Tzu, The Art of War
Sun Tzu uses five things to determine the strategic readiness of a country, and we can do the same thing with an opening hand.
Doran’s Way is removal, and it’s important that the opener has at least one piece of spot removal to keep the early game under control. Discipline is land drops and card advantage engines, of which you want at least three and one of, respectively. The rest of an opener relies less on what we want and more on who our opponents are, which is the Weather. The Leadership is our game plan, which is detailed out below. A discussion of Terrain is included in the Ground sidebar.
Early Game
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“...Good warriors take their stand on ground where they cannot lose, and do not overlook conditions that make opponents prone to defeat.
Therefore a victorious army first wins and then seeks battle; a defeated army first battles and then seeks victory.” – Sun Tzu, The Art of War
The early game is all about finding your ground. I subscribe to the theory that it’s best to be in second or third place in a 4 player game.* If you look like you’re winning, the other players tend to gang up on you, which can be crippling. Conversely, if you look like you’re losing, it’s easy to get blown out by opportunistic enemies. Second place is, ironically, invincible, and third place is close to the same.
In the early game, then, you’re going to want to be constantly observing the table and look for weaknesses at the table. As an example, the pillowfort player has an unbreakable fortress and the token player can’t get in. If the pillowfort player is tapped out, it’s a good time to destroy his enchantments and open him up to the tokens, both so the tokens will be busy and so the pillowfort guy takes the damage. In this phase, it’s important to preserve resources, so proper threat assessment is critical. Only use spot removal if you’re threatened, either by a combo piece hitting the table or by an attack. Instead, wait until someone overextends, then sweep them.
*Sometimes, however, it’s impossible to hold second. If the first-place opponent has to die, it’s important to drop back into second as quickly as you can once he’s dead. Conversely, if you’re forced into the losing position, it’s important to create the illusion of defenses even if you don’t actually have them.
Middle Game
“If they brace themselves as they stand, they are starving. When those sent to draw water first drink themselves, they are thirsty.
When they see an advantage but do not advance on it, they are weary.” – Sun Tzu, The Art of War
In the middle game, the faster decks and the ones without card advantage engines are going to be starving and tired.* The deck that was winning in the early game might have been ganged up on and crippled, and it’s just hanging on and hoping for a respite to recovered. The surest mark of a transition to the middle game is that someone’s been killed.
In this phase, we’ll move from a defensive posture to a more opportunistic one. As an example, after a sweeper, we have enough mana to cast Doran, equip Slagwurm Armor and Lightning Greaves, and get in for 11 general damage. Since he doesn’t have evasion, he’s not a threat to anyone who can recover, but 11 general damage puts a player on the defensive. At this point, most players will be sweeping the board and dropping threats, so it’s more important to have removal for the single, hard-to-remove threats that will be coming.
*Hand size is a common indicator of a starving or tired opponent. If an opponent is without options, he is starving.
Late Game
“When your forces are dulled, your edge is blunted, your strength is exhausted, and your supplies are gone, then others will take advantage of your debility and rise up…
Therefore I have heard of military operations that were clumsy but swift, but I have never seen one that was skillful and lasted a long time. It is never beneficial for a nation to have a military operation continue for a long time.” – Sun Tzu, The Art of War
When it’s time to commit, Sun Tzu says that a clumsy victory is better than a skillful defeat, and the difference is speed. At this point, there should be only two players left. Either your opponent will be mostly intact as well, or he won’t. If he’s not worn down, removal and easily-recurrable engines (e.g. Sun Titan, Glissa, the Traitor) can be used to try to prolong the middle game. However, if he’s used his strength breaking other generals, you can begin your late game.
In the late game, you want to try to stick one of your two game-winning recursion engines (Sheoldred, Whispering One or Debtors’ Knell) and start recurring high-impact creatures like Angel of Despair or your opponent’s best stuff. The other option is a suited-up Doran backed by removal. Either way, it’s important that you can win within three turns, because your opponent is going to be trying to do the same thing, and you’re now playing without politics. By this phase, the board-states are likely very complex, so it’s important to slow down and be sure you’ve accounted for everything you can.
”...Those who win every battle are not really skillful—those who render others’ armies helpless without fighting are the best of all.” – Sun Tzu, The Art of War
I’ve been playing kitchen-table Magic on and off since Betrayers of Kamigawa, when I piloted the Spiritcraft preconstructed deck against my brother and his Dark Devotion. I found I liked the Soulshift mechanic that showed up in Spiritcraft better than the combo of Heartless Hiditsugu and Overblaze in Dark Devotion, and Green/White became my favorite color combination very quickly.
My breakthrough moment on how Magic should be played came over the cafeteria table in high school. I was playing a heavily-modified Selesnya United preconstructed in multiplayer games, and I realized that there were opportunities to get in for damage with Llanowar Elves when my opponents had no blockers. A year later, the Fun with Fungus preconstructed deck came out, and I learned why black was a good color to have around.
My EDH/Commander experience is a bit more recent. I started with a Lyzolda, the Blood Witch deck that durdled its way to something resembling victory, then upgraded to Mayael, the Anima. I added Zedruu the Greathearted, then the Counterpunch Commander deck came out. I’d originally wanted to play Ghave, Guru of Spores as a way of going back to my cafeteria-table Magic days, but he comboed off with everything, and Karador, Ghost Chieftain was too predictable. Eventually, I settled on Doran.
This is the first alter I've made that I felt was worth sharing. It's just an art extension. I used a toothpick to scrape the borders back, so it's not quite perfect, but I like it.
Okay. I'm Doran, the Siege Tower, playing against Narset, Enlightened Master, Cromat, Narset, Enlightened Master, and Gahiji, Honored One. To set the scene, Gahiji has conceded to pick up our 6th player after he got off work, so we're all trying to end it quickly. Narset 2 died to a combination of everyone's beats, and Narset 1 has just nuked Cromat off the board with a Fireball variant. The board is clear of creatures, but there's a Howling Mine on the field and Narset has about 20 cards in hand.
Doran, the Siege Tower - 8. It aims to win extremely long games with answers to almost everything and big-butt general beatdown. It can get a bit oppressive if my opponents aren't really ready for it, and one player complains that it packs too many board wipes.
Mayael the Anima - 5.5. Pretty stock deck with a lot of fatties and ways to get several Mayael activations per turn. It's playing a lot of big creatures that come attached to removal, so I joke that it's a control deck. It has a hard time dealing with opposing board-wipes.
Zedruu the Greathearted - 3. It's got my highest win percentage because people don't believe it's a threat. It mostly durdles, then wins by giving away a Delaying Shield after all the other players have been eliminated.
Gisela, Blade of Goldnight - 5. Voltron is always scary if it's not interrupted, but it's fragile. The Sunforger package gives it a lot of resilience compared to straight Voltron, but it's not exactly oppressive in a group with removal.
I'm personally thinking I'll test Calculated Dismissal at our games tonight. I'm also contemplating going up to 4 Ruinous Path. It's the ideal target for Dark Petition on turn 5, and my meta is starting to lean more toward walker-based decks. Thoughts?
Here's where I'm at right now. I'm not siding in JVP vs. everything, but he's been making a difference when he does come in. I'm still on the Jace train for now. I'm open to discuss, critique, or otherwise tear apart my list.
Okay. Here goes. A less-than-stellar report for everyone. I went 2-3 at Gameday.
Round One: Red/Black Dragons (2-0): His strategy involved using the red thopter-producing creatures to clog up the game until the dragons could take over, with Westvale Abbey as a backup plan. Game One, I swept the board twice and had spot removal for his Thunderbreak Regent, then Sphinx and a few walkers took over. Game Two, I got out Virulent Plague to stop the token rush, then had to deal with back to back to back Dragonlord Kolaghan. Once that was done with, I was able to stabilize with Sorin and then take the match.
Round Two: Mono-Red Eldrazi (0-2): I have a hard time figuring this matchup out, to be honest. It seems like so much of what they do is must-answer, and Chandra is a real problem for me. In the first game, I got ran over by elementals after fighting through Thought-Knot Seer and some thopter tokens. I boarded in 2 Anguished Unmaking, 2 Dragonlord Silumgar, and some Transgress the Mind. Game Two, I made a misplay when I attacked his Chandra with a Shambling Vent instead of dropping Sorin and using him to nuke her for the life. His next swing was a Reality Smasher and 2 elementals for 13, exactly lethal.
Round Three: Red/Black Vampires (0-2): Game One, I stabilized at 8, only to die to burn a few turns later when I tapped out to cast a Narset. Game Two, I got in three swings with a Shambling Vent before he realized it had lifelink, then never saw him play a creature for Sorin to feast on, while dying to burn.
Round Four: W/B Humans (2-0): Game One, the poor guy ran into two Languish by turn 6, then refused to go down until Sphinx beat him to death. Game two, I sided in Jace, Vryn's Prodigy and Dragonlord Silumgar. There was one point where I ultimated Jace, Vryn's Prodigy with Narset Transcendent and Ob Nixilis Reignited on the field, only to have him flash in Archangel Avacyn and follow it up with an Ob of his own, blowing up my fresh Jace, Vryn's Prodigy and killing my Ob with Avacyn. Two turns later, I got to live the dream and cast Dragonlord Silumgar, taking his 3 loyalty Ob and nuking his Mindwrack Demon with it for what ended up being a 3 for 1. Eventually, he milled out.
Round 5: W/G Humans (1-2) Game One, I had spot removal for his first four plays and was able to run him out, then begin the process of picking away at his life total until I found Sphinx. I sided in Jace, Vryn's Prodigy, Dragonlord Silumgar, and Infinite Obliteration. Game Two, I mulled to 6, kept a 2-lander with three Anticipate and a Languish, and died to the Humans deck's magical Christmas hand. Game Three, I stabilized for a while but couldn't find a 6th mana until it was too late.
What I learned:
I agree, Spell Shrivel is bad. The deck isn't built to cast it on curve, and it gets worse as the game goes on. 4 isn't a small number, but I often didn't have three mana up when I needed it. Replaced with Negate x2.
Dragonlord Silumgar gets my "6th Man" Award. I never felt bad casting him, and I always got at least a 2-for-one with him. Out of the sideboard, I think he's my go-to dragon of choice.
I'm not sure how I feel about Transgress the Mind. It's powerful, and I never whiffed when I cast it, but I don't think it had the same impact I was hoping it'd have on the game. It always feels like it's game-breaking when it's cast against me, but I never feel like it's doing that much work when I cast it.
Dark Petition is the real deal. I never felt bad about having it in my hand, and didn't lose a single game I rebounded it. It's stupidly powerful with Narset Transcendent, and I'm glad I'm running three copies.
I don't think I've had enough experience against all the different decks in the format to make the right decisions consistently. In other words, a lot of the problems I had were due to me not quite understanding what each deck was capable of. That's a problem that'll go away with time.
Overall, I'm disappointed but not saddened by my results. It's all just things to think about for the future. I'll be retooling the sideboard and posting my updated list for critique.
@Celestreal: We're not ganging up on you. We're pointing out potential problems with your deck and backing up our statements with what I consider reasonable criticism. The fact is that producing clue tokens has let aggro and midrange decks get back into the game against us before, and on weighing the risks vs. the rewards, it's not worth it in this list right now. The fact is that right now TITI isn't making waves in the list. The fact that when you say things like...
<Dang, you girls mad or nah? Panties twisted in every direction. >
Ya'll are real butthurt over that 1x Gideon aren't you?
So naysay if you will, but <your track record is horribad so I put exactly zero stock in it.>
...that doesn't help you defend your points and it doesn't make you seem serious, it just makes you seem angry. We're all trying to, as you said in the title, "rejoice and be merry", but it's hard when one person is repeatedly insulting and belittling the others. This is the last time I'll ask you to stop. Please, try not to be so sure of yourself that you can't accept critique. Now...
@Dusk 707: I'd consider cutting a Dispel or a Negate for the Virulent Plague, probably leaning toward the Negate if you expect lots of Company. My reasoning is that between your discard and your counter suite, you'll probably be able to handle the first Company or two and stabilize, and once you've got walkers on the board, it's going to get tougher for them to win.
Alright, here's the list I'm going to be running tonight and on Gameday. The only possible changes are another Sorin in place of Silumgar's Command, and some adjustments to the Sideboard and mana base depending on how it plays tonight.
Most of the differences between my list and Manfield's are in the sideboard, but I am choosing to run a deck that's a bit less focused on beating aggro in response to my local meta. I'm also not sure I'm happy with the manabase, and may even cut a singleton Port Town for a Swamp. With only 4 W symbols in my mainboard and another 5 in the Sideboard, I feel like I might be able to cut down on my white sources.
Speaking of the Sideboard, I liked the idea of siding in Jace, Vryn's Prodigy and a dragon like Manfield did, so I've got that package in there, though I'm still torn on whether Ojutai is the correct of the two dragons. I'll never have a counterspell to protect him, and if he doesn't make contact at least once, he's a giant mana sink. Silumgar, though, can be a 2 or even 3-for-1 against a walker like Sorin or Chandra, even if he's removed before he gets a chance to swing, and he beats Avacyn in the air and trades with almost everything. Second, I have a discard suite in the form of 2 Duress and 2 Transgress the Mind. I think this is flexible enough to work well against a wide variety of threats.
One interaction I miss but just don't have room for (unless I cut something from the sideboard) is Ojutai's Command with Jace. All four modes are good, but none of them quite seem stellar here, especially with what I'm trying to do in the sideboard.
@Celestreal: Could you link the two articles, Seth Manfield's and Neal Oliver's, in the primer. Maybe there should be an additional resources spoiler so we can keep all that stuff in an easy-to-find place.
@Celestreal: I'm glad you were right, and that it's a viable deck. But your attitude is arrogant. Please stop.
I've been thinking more about running a toolbox for Dark Petition, and I'm not sure it's a good idea in the mainboard. However, if we pumped up the number of Petitions to 3, we could modify the sideboard to carry more unique answers. Just a thought.
I'm seeing a lot of potential in going a bit more toolboxy. Watching Game One of Manfield's quarterfinals game, I really think the point at which he broke the tokens deck was when he Petitioned for an answer, fired a different answer with the extra mana, then grabbed another answer with the rebounded Petition for what looked like a more-than-free 3 for 1. I'm not sure what I'd run in that toolbox because it'd need to be black-heavy, but it seems like it's got potential to be insanely strong.
Would it be possible for you to put some of your lists on the forums? I'd like to see what your design philosophy is. It's possible that you're having trouble with these spells for a reason, and maybe this is less a complaint or troll thread and more a way of asking for advice without actually asking for advice. Just my thoughts. At the very least, what generals do you run?
The Art of War and Rock Control
Table of Contents
- Why Play Doran? – ”War is the continuation of politics by other means” – Carl von Clausewitz
- Deck History – ”The great wars of the present age are the effects of the study of history.” – Friedrich Nietzsche
- Deck List – ”Untutored courage useless in the face of educated bullets” – George S. Patton Jr.
- Card Choices – ”Logistics is the ball and chain of armored warfare.” – Heinz Guderian
- Strategy – ”You should never consider finished a war you didn’t win.” – Bangambiki Habyarimana
- Changelog and Endnotes – ”You do have to change things as warfare changes” – Chuck Schumer
“...it is said that if you know others and know yourself, you will not be imperiled in a hundred battles; if you do not know others but know yourself, you win one and lose one; if you do not know others and do not know yourself, you will be imperiled in every single battle.” - Sun Tzu, The Art of War
Anafenza, the Foremost - Action_Mane has a great Anafenza Primer on the forums, focusing on hate-bears. If you’re looking at her as a viable choice, I strongly recommend reading it.. She’s a more aggressive choice for a deck, and her ability shuts down a very common strategy for your opponents.
Daghatar the Adamant - Most of the lists I’ve seen are tribal Warriors, with a small +1/+1 counter subtheme. As far as Abzan commanders go, he’s fairly under the radar, and there are some advantages to having an under-the-radar commander.
Ghave, Guru of Spores - Ghave is either a combo or token general. Either way, he’s going to be following a much different strategy than Doran. If you want to be the threat from early turns, Ghave is a good general to do it with.
Karador, Ghost Chieftain - If you’re more interested in creating graveyard shenanigans, Karador is your guy. I ran him for a bit and found great success with Birthing Pod into Sheoldred, Whispering One. However, in a meta with a fair amount of graveyard hate, Karador folds more quickly, and he inspires people to start running it.
Teneb, the Harvester - Teneb doesn’t point in any particular direction as a commander, which makes him a good substitute for Doran or Karador. He’s an efficient flyer with a powerful reanimation ability on combat damage, but it’s unlikely you’ll get a lot of triggers, so it’s best not to build around him.
If you enjoy reactive strategies, making decisions, and proper threat assessment/game analysis, this could be the deck for you. If your idea of power is Decree of Pain with Harvester of Souls in play for 30 cards or smashing for 13 general damage and untapping your lands, he’s got your back. If you want your games to play out differently each time, Doran’s your
mantreefolk!You’ll Like Doran If:
- You like playing reactive strategies.
- You want to use your graveyard, but not be reliant on it.
- You want a deck that’s both consistent and plays out differently each time.
You won’t like Doran If:Rock control is a tried and true archetype that tries to win the game by grinding out games with efficient removal, discard, and draw before winning with efficient, if not splashy, beaters. Examples include Darwin Castle’s The Rock at Pro Tour Houston in 2002, Calcano’s Doran Rock online in 2010, and John Finkel’s Seasons Past Control at Pro Tour Shadows over Innistrad in 2016. To make these concepts work in EDH, some adjustments were necessary. First, discard isn’t a powerful enough strategy for EDH unless you commit heavily to it. Second, the creatures in competitive Rock decks are powerful by their formats’ standards, but overall not enough for EDH.
”Governing a large number as though governing a small number is a matter of division into groups. Battling a large number as though battling a small number is a matter of forms and calls.” - Sun Tzu, The Art of War
2 Stoneforge Mystic
2 Dawntreader Elk
2 Sakura-Tribe Elder
2 Qasali Pridemage
3 Eternal Witness
3 Nissa, Vastwood Seer
3 Wood Elves
3 Yavimaya Elder
3 Glissa, the Traitor
3 Burnished Hart
4 Angel of Finality
4 Silent Arbiter
4 Solemn Simulacrum
5 Archon of Justice
5 Karmic Guide
5 Stonehewer Giant
5 Acidic Slime
6 Adarkar Valkyrie
6 Sun Titan
6 Yosei, the Morning Star
6 Harvester of Souls
6 Bane of Progress
7 Sheoldred, Whispering One
7 Angel of Despair
Planeswalkers (4)
4 Elspeth, Knight-Errant
4 Garruk Wildspeaker
5 Liliana Vess
6 Elspeth, Sun’s Champion
Artifacts (7)
1 Sensei’s Divining Top
1 Slagwurm Armor
1 Sol Ring
2 Lightning Greaves
3 Sword of Body and Mind
3 Sword of Feast and Famine
5 Batterskull
3 Phyrexian Arena
7 Debtors’ Knell
Sorceries (14)
1 Green Sun’s Zenith
2 Declaration in Stone
2 Demonic Tutor
3 Maelstrom Pulse
3 Vindicate
4 Wrath of God
5 Primal Command
5 Dark Petition
5 Increasing Ambition
6 Austere Command
6 Seasons Past
6 Merciless Eviction
7 Duneblast
8 Decree of Pain
Instants (10)
1 Path to Exile
1 Swords to Plowshares
2 Abrupt Decay
2 Malicious Affliction
3 Oblation
3 Beast Within
3 Krosan Grip
3 Anguished Unmaking
3 Mortify
5 Fracturing Gust
Lands (38)
0 Grim Backwoods
0 Miren, the Moaning Well
0 Reliquary Tower
0 Strip Mine
0 Tectonic Edge
0 Westvale Abbey
0 Command Tower
0 Exotic Orchard
0 Murmuring Bosk
0 Temple Garden
0 Marsh Flats
0 Misty Rainforest
0 Verdant Catacombs
0 Windswept Heath
0 Gilt-Leaf Palace
0 Isolated Chapel
0 Sunpetal Grove
0 Golgari Rot Farm
0 Orzhov Basilica
0 Wooded Bastion
0 Brushland
0 Caves of Koilos
0 Llanowar Wastes
0 Saltcrusted Steppe
0 Mistveil Plains
0 Bojuka Bog
0 Khalni Garden
0 Plains
0 Plains
0 Swamp
0 Swamp
0 Forest
0 Forest
0 Forest
0 Forest
0 Forest
1 Sol Ring
2 Dawntreader Elk
2 Sakura-Tribe Elder
3 Nissa, Vastwood Seer
3 Wood Elves
3 Burnished Hart
4 Garruk Wildspeaker
4 Solemn Simulacrum
Draw (4)
1 Sensei’s Divining Top
3 Phyrexian Arena
3 Yavimaya Elder
6 Harvester of Souls
Recursion (9)
3 Eternal Witness
3 Glissa, the Traitor
5 Karmic Guide
5 Primal Command
6 Adarkar Valkyrie
6 Sun Titan
6 Seasons Past
7 Sheoldred, Whispering One
7 Debtors’ Knell
Voltron (6)
1 Slagwurm Armor
2 Lightning Greaves
3 Sword of Body and Mind
3 Sword of Feast and Famine
4 Elspeth, Knight-Errant
5 Batterskull
Sweeper (8)
4 Wrath of God
5 Fracturing Gust
6 Austere Command
6 Elspeth, Sun’s Champion
6 Bane of Progress
6 Merciless Eviction
7 Duneblast
8 Decree of Pain
1 Path to Exile
1 Swords to Plowshares
2 Declaration in Stone
2 Malicious Affliction
2 Abrupt Decay
2 Qasali Pridemage
3 Oblation
3 Beast Within
3 Krosan Grip
3 Anguished Unmaking
3 Mortify
3 Maelstrom Pulse
3 Vindicate
4 Angel of Finality
4 Silent Arbiter
5 Archon of Justice
5 Acidic Slime
6 Yosei, the Morning Star
7 Angel of Despair
Tutor (7)
1 Green Sun’s Zenith
2 Stoneforge Mystic
2 Demonic Tutor
5 Stonehewer Giant
5 Dark Petition
5 Increasing Ambition
5 Liliana Vess
Lands (38)
0 Grim Backwoods
0 Miren, the Moaning Well
0 Reliquary Tower
0 Strip Mine
0 Tectonic Edge
0 Westvale Abbey
0 Command Tower
0 Exotic Orchard
0 Murmuring Bosk
0 Temple Garden
0 Marsh Flats
0 Misty Rainforest
0 Verdant Catacombs
0 Windswept Heath
0 Gilt-Leaf Palace
0 Isolated Chapel
0 Sunpetal Grove
0 Golgari Rot Farm
0 Orzhov Basilica
0 Wooded Bastion
0 Brushland
0 Caves of Koilos
0 Llanowar Wastes
0 Saltcrusted Steppe
0 Mistveil Plains
0 Bojuka Bog
0 Khalni Garden
0 Plains
0 Plains
0 Swamp
0 Swamp
0 Forest
0 Forest
0 Forest
0 Forest
0 Forest
Ramp - The deck doesn’t have all that many earth-shatteringly big spells, but it’s ideal to be able to hold up spot removal or drop a threat after sweeping.
Draw - While draw isn’t the strongest part of the deck, there are enough ways to keep cards flowing that I haven’t had problems.
Recursion - Recursion is our main card advantage engine.
Voltron - Doran is fat, but he doesn’t have evasion. Any equipment in the deck turns him into a 3 turn clock.
Sweeper - Every EDH deck needs a way or two to reset things when they’re going poorly, and Doran is no exception.
Removal - The bread and butter of the deck, Doran runs plenty of efficient, versatile removal spells.
Tutor - It’s good to have the option to find what you need in the moment. The deck’s tutors help you out.
Tokens - Tokens can be an excellent source of card advantage, don’t feel bad to sacrifice, and are wonderful to have around.
Land - The deck runs a somewhat higher than normal number of utility lands.
I’ll also be rating each card by how it’s performed for me.
t - Something I don’t have does this job better, or it’s proven to be weak.
tt - Solid role-player. Sometimes it’s a dead draw, but most of the time it’s good.
ttt - An all-star. I’ve rarely been disappointed to draw it.
Dawntreader Elk (Ramp) - tt - Dawntreader Elk and Sakura-Tribe Elder are efficient ramp options that have the benefit of being recurrable with almost every engine in the deck. The main danger is that there’s a real possibility of running out of targets for them, due to the mana-base’s complexity.
Sakura-Tribe Elder (Ramp) - tt - See Dawntreader Elk.
Nissa, Vastwood Seer (Ramp, Draw, Tokens) - ttt - Nissa isn’t actually an early drop. I never want her to hit the table before I have 6 mana, and I want her to flip right away. Once she does, however, she becomes an engine that’s almost as effective as Phyrexian Arena with no downsides. She also has the potential to close out a stalled-out game with her -7.
Wood Elves (Ramp) - t - Wood Elves is still here because it finds any Forest, which means it’s helpful for fixing mana. Other than that, the body is unimpressive and similar effects exist on more useful creatures.
Burnished Hart (Ramp) - tt - Burnished Hart is similar to Dawntreader Elk and Sakura-Tribe Elder except that he can be recurred with Glissa as well as the other options.
Garruk Wildspeaker (Ramp, Tokens) - ttt - Garruk is in the deck for his +1. Untapping two lands nets at least two and sometimes three mana a turn, and he’s relatively low-threat due to the relative lack of creatures. His -1 beasts aren’t big enough to serve as attackers, but his ultimate sometimes helps punch in lethal on someone.
Solemn Simulacrum (Ramp, Draw) - ttt - Sad Robot is usually a solid role-player in my decks, but when he’s combined with Glissa, the Traitor and one of the sacrifice lands, he turns into an absolute beast. I’ve had games where he died 7 times, and he generates so much value when he does.
Phyrexian Arena (Draw) - tt - Doran needs to constantly refuel his hand to keep control of the game, and Arena helps alleviate the worst of the hand problems. The life-loss isn’t a huge problem once you’re online and Miren, the Moaning Well can offset the worst of it, and there are enough ways to get rid of it if you find yourself in trouble.
Yavimaya Elder (Draw) - tt - Even more important than ramp is hitting land drops, and Yavimaya Elder ensures that you do. His self-sacrifice ability is very strong when coupled with a reanimation engine, as well.
Harvester of Souls (Draw) - tt - On the opposite side of Phyrexian Arena is the Harvester. He usually comes down just before someone’s likely to sweep and often draws 10+ cards in one go. At the very worst, he’ll be a 2 for 1 in combat, and has potential to generate insane advantage.
Glissa, the Traitor (Recursion) - tt - Glissa is a powerful midgame engine that doesn’t generate a lot of threat. People don’t rate a thrice-recurred Solemn Simulacrum as scary as a thrice-recurred Sun Titan. At the worst, she’s going to get something back in combat, and she’ll often prevent attacks by virtue of her deathtouch.
Karmic Guide (Recursion) - tt - I don’t run the Lark/Guide combo, not because I hate combos but because I don’t own a ‘Lark right now. Nonetheless, Karmic Guide’s reanimation is reasonably fairly-priced and her protections can make her a good equipment-carrier if the echo cost is paid.
Primal Command (Recursion, Tutor, Removal) - tt - Primal Command is one of those spells that does a little of everything. Its primary purpose here is to reset my graveyard just before I go into late-game. It also finds a creature, or tucks an unwanted permanent and gets rid of a graveyard if I’m desperate.
Adarkar Valkyrie (Recursion) - tt - Adarkar Valkyrie synergizes with Sun Titan to provide excellent sweeper protection, helps other creatures dodge targeted removal, and can take over a game if she’s unharrassed. She’s a solid Lightning Greaves target.
Sun Titan (Recursion) - ttt Sun Titan grabs Swords and small creatures, and shoves them right back into play. Grabbing a dead Eternal Witness and removal. It’s actually rare I get to attack with him until there are only a couple players left, since people see him as a threat.
Seasons Past (Recursion) - tt - This is half the engine that powered Finkel’s Rock deck in Pro Tour SoI. We use it the same way. It can grab a couple spot removal spells, a sweeper, a finisher, and a tutor, then do it again in a couple of turns.
Sheoldred, Whispering One (Recursion, Removal) - ttt - If Doran is the king of the deck, Sheoldred is the queen. She demands removal, and if your opponents don’t have it, she quickly becomes a real problem. Following up a sweeper with Sheoldred is a good way to start wrapping up a game.
Debtors’ Knell (Recursion) - ttt - Unlike Sheoldred, Debtors’ Knell doesn’t actively control your opponents’ boards, but it does grab the biggest threat in the entire game, every turn. My playgroup sees Sheoldred as more frightening, mostly because Debtors’ Knell never hits the table until the endgame, when players have been eliminated already.
Lightning Greaves (Voltron) - tt - Lightning Greaves is a staple in Commander for a reason. Here, it enables speedy finishes and protects our engines.
Sword of Body and Mind (Voltron, Tokens) - t - SoBaM is staying until I get my hands on Sword of War and Peace or Sword of Fire and Ice. Neither effect is amazingly powerful, so I’m running it for the protections.
Sword of Feast and Famine (Voltron, Ramp) - ttt - SoFaF is everything Doran wants in an equipment. The protections aren’t super-relevant in my playgroup right now, but the ability to tap out and still hold up removal can’t be understated. The discard can lock someone down, as well.
Elspeth, Knight-Errant (Voltron, Tokens) - tt - The odds of ultimating her are almost nonexistent, but her second +1 offers a fast way to give Doran (or any attacker) evasion. Her first +1 is pretty weak, but sometimes you just need someone to hold a weapon.
Batterskull (Voltron) - tt - Batterskull and Stoneforge Mystic can bog down an unfriendly-looking late game until we can get engines online, and they can clog up the early raids people make in our meta. It’s also a solid equipment to toss on Doran or a flyer.
Fracturing Gust (Sweeper) - tt - There are a few people who rely on pillowforts to keep their ‘walkers alive in my meta, and this lets the tokens player kill ‘walkers without angering the rest of the board. It’s also a not-insignificant amount of life.
Austere Command (Sweeper) - ttt - Shapeable sweepers are very powerful in EDH. Austere Command can leave you with Doran as the biggest thing in play, all your equipments, and nothing in the way.
Elspeth, Sun’s Champion (Sweeper, Tokens) - tt - She doesn’t hit everything, but he’s got potential to repeat and she gums up the board between goes. Her emblem can also help close a game, should it come to that, though it’s never the plan when casting her.
Bane of Progress (Sweeper) - tt - Ban of Progress eats all the artifacts and enchantments and then turns into a large dumb beater. He’s excellent if you can give him a form of evasion, but otherwise serves as a slower Fracturing Gust with a giant body.
Merciless Eviction (Sweeper) - ttt - Merciless Eviction is here as Austere Command #2. It hits planeswalkers in addition to other things, but it’s less versatile. Exile is potent, however.
Duneblast (Sweeper) - tt - Duneblast synergizes amazingly with Sheoldred, Whispering One. It’s also good for ending games by leaving Doran as the sole survivor. It’s expensive, but most sweepers that enable finishes this well are.
Decree of Pain (Sweeper, Draw) - ttt - Comboing this with Harvester of Souls is a solid way to pull ahead. I never cycle it, since it’s almost always a better choice to take a few points of damage in exchange for the cards later on, but the flexibility is nice.
Swords to Plowshares (Removal) - ttt - Life matters less than mana on the board, which is why Swords to Plowshares is rated higher than Path to Exile. It’s tough for opponents to play around either of these effects.
Declaration in Stone (Removal, Sweeper) - tt - Most of the time, this and Maelstrom Pulse will be single-target removal, but sometimes they’ll blow out the token player. Be aware that Declaration in Stone can have a rather large drawback if your opponent has the mana to quickly sacrifice his clues.
Malicious Affliction (Removal) - tt - Efficient creature removal with potential upside.
Abrupt Decay (Removal) - ttt - It’s not as flexible as many cards in the deck, but the “cannot be countered” clause is a big deal. If there’s a combo deck at the table, I save either this or Krosan Grip for it.
Qasali Pridemage (Removal) - tt - Rattlesnake effects are important in EDH, and Qasali Pridemage offers a solid one. He can often slow down combo players just by sitting on the board, and his Exalted ability allows Doran to be a slightly faster clock if needed.
Oblation (Removal) - ttt - Oblation offers a political solution to critical combo pieces and out of control planeswalkers. Since the rules change regarding tucking generals, it’s less powerful, but still a go-to for me.
Beast Within (Removal) - tt - Beast Within is almost always going to kill problem nonlands, unless you’re trying to set up a Slime lock on someone’s mana-base. The 3/3 is usually too small to be a threat by itself.
Mortify (Removal) - tt - I think of Mortify and Putrefy as creature removal with versatility, rather than as permanent removal. Of the options in the deck, it's the weakest removal, but it's still sufficiently flexible to be played.
Maelstrom Pulse (Removal, Sweeper) - tt - See Declaration in Stone.
Vindicate (Removal) - ttt - It kills everything. I’d give it four t’s if I could, but Vindicate certainly earns three.
Angel of Finality (Removal) - tt - Easily-repeatable graveyard hate when you need it, a Sword carrier when you don’t.
Silent Arbiter (Removal) - t - It’s not technically removal, but it stalls until you find some. A fair number of combos rely on the attack step to win, and it does good work against token-based decks and other decks that go wide.
Archon of Justice (Removal) - tt - Archon of Justice is a wonderful rattlesnake, preventing attacks and potentially shutting down combos at instant speed. Most counterspells don’t handle abilities as well as spells, so it’s good to have a way around a counterspell wall.
Acidic Slime (Removal) - ttt - Acidic Slime will almost always be at least a 2 for 1. Most of the time, he’s going to eat an artifact or enchantment, but in the late game, him plus Sheoldred can slowly lock an opponent out of their mana-base. It’s slow, but crushing once it gets going or when you have a Debtors’ Knell as well as a pair of sacrifice outlets.
Yosei, the Morning Star (Removal) - tt - Yosei isn’t actually removal, but it’s possible to recur it with Debtors’ Knell or Sheoldred, Whispering One to lock someone out of the game.
Angel of Despair (Removal) - tt - It blows up anything, then sits there as a respectable-sized flyer and beats face.
Stoneforge Mystic (Tutor) - ttt - She gets Swords, she gets Armor, and she synergizes stupidly well with Batterskull.
Demonic Tutor (Tutor) - tt - It’s a cheap, non-conditional tutor. I think I get sweepers about 40% of the time and land about 40% of the time with it. There’s nothing wrong with tutoring for lands so you don’t fall behind.
Stonehewer Giant (Tutor) - tt - It’s Stoneforge Mystic but repeatable and more expensive. If it’s left alone, it can fill the board with equipments, but be aware of potential blowouts if you do that.
Dark Petition (Tutor) - ttt - It’s a bit more expensive than Demonic Tutor, but the Spell Mastery will often be active and the two-drop slot is crowded when using Seasons Past.
Increasing Ambition (Tutor) - tt - It’s expensive, and its Flashback mode is even more so, but the Flashback allows for increased versatility in the late game.
Liliana Vess (Tutor) - tt - As a tutor with potential to repeat, Liliana is a powerful engine. Her +1 also offers one of only two discard effects in the game, and her ultimate is a real game-winner, unlike the other walkers’.
Grim Backwoods (Land, Draw) - ttt - This with any of our ETB creatures can generate lots of card advantage. It’s expensive, but it keeps you in the game when things are stalling out.
Khalni Garden (Land, Tokens) - t - Part of me thinks this could be an extra Forest, but the token’s a relatively unthreatening sword-carrier, and I’ve found I don’t need the speed so much.
Miren, the Moaning Well (Land) - ttt - I’ve won games because players forgot about Miren, attacked for exactly lethal, and weren’t ready for the sacrificed Sun Titan to buy an extra turn. It’s a potent engine with the deck’s ETB creatures, as well.
Mistveil Plains (Land, Recursion) - tt - Putting spells back into the deck is an effective enough way to see them again, given the number of turns we want the game to go and the number of shuffle effects in the deck (19). It’s also a good way to save important things from Graveyard hate.
Reliquary Tower (Land) - tt - We have potential to draw very large numbers of cards off of Decree of Pain and Harvester of Souls, so having one of these is often critical.
Saltcrusted Steppe (Land, Ramp) - tt - Most of the time, this is just one colorless mana, but it comes in untapped and gives you something to do when there’s nothing that needs killing. It can lead to some massive late-game turns for little investment, since that mana was going to waste anyways.
Strip Mine (Land, Removal) - tt - Strip Mine and Tectonic Edge eat problem lands. And, yes, there are always problem lands. Don’t use them to cripple someone’s mana-base unless it’s down to two and you’re going for a Slime lock.
Tectonic Edge (Land, Removal) - tt - See Strip Mine.
Westvale Abbey (Land, Tokens) - tt - Westvale Abbey puts pressure on the table. Its front side provides endless chump blockers, provided Miren is around to sacrifice them, and Ormendhal, Profane Prince is a massive flying clock.
Like all decks, Doran has a list of things on his radar to pick up. Most of these are lands, but there are a few spells as well.
Temple of Plenty In/Out Tectonic Edge
Temple of Malady In/Out Misty Rainforest
Scrubland In/Out Khalni Garden
Savannah In/Out Saltcrusted Steppe
Reflecting Pool In/Out Exotic Orchard
Woodland Cemetery In/Out Gilt-Leaf Palace
Fetid Heath In/Out Orzhov Basilica
Twilight Mire In/Out Golgari Rot Farm
Ashen Rider In/Out Angel of Finality
Reveillark In/Out Silent Arbiter
Many decks take on a proactive role in winning the game. For instance, Nissa, Vastwood Seer wants to ramp into fatties, and Alesha, Who Smiles at Death is trying to reanimate small creatures and then get them killed in combat for fun and profit. Doran, however, is different.
Since Doran is trying to grind out a long game, his whole plan is to disrupt his opponents’ strategy. It’s very reactive rather than proactive, which can be dangerous. I’ve found a lot of success in following Sun Tzu’s wisdom from The Art of War. I’ve tried to translate what Sun Tzu says into situations in a typical game with Doran, and hope I’ve succeeded.
”The flow of water is determined by the earth, the victory of a military force is determined by the opponent.
So a military force has no constant formation, water has no constant shape: the ability to gain victory by changing and adapting according to the opponent is called genius.” – Sun Tzu, The Art of War
Sun Tzu speaks of both terrain and ground, but while both are illuminating, I find that there’s more value in talking about ground. In the case of EDH, all nine types of ground are represented by board-states and by the actions players are taking.
B”When local interests fight among themselves on their own territory, this is called a ground of dissolution.” – Sun Tzu, The Art of War
In the early game, most ground is ground of dissolution. Early combats tend to be small in my metagame, and often involve trying to kill a planeswalker or drive in a few points of damage. It’s important not to let these opportunistic attacks break up potential alliances later. Do not give battle here for the sake of punishing an aggressor.
G”When you enter others’ land, but not deeply, this is called light ground.” – Sun Tzu, The Art of War
Conversely, don’t let your own early raids turn into larger battles. If you hit an opponent and he hits you back despite an obviously better target, it’s often for the best to move on and leave that player alone for a while. Engaging in an early conflict is a sure way to fall behind as Doran.
W”Land that would be advantageous to you if you got it and to opponents if they got it is called ground of contention.” – Sun Tzu, The Art of War
Sun Tzu recommends that you not fight over ground of contention. I agree. It’s more important to preserve your strength than to gain a minor advantage. It should be noted that this isn’t the kind of advantage that would win you the game, but something trivial. Don’t fight them if they decide to counter your Solemn Simulacrum.
B”Land where you and others can come and go is called a trafficked ground.” – Sun Tzu, The Art of War
Mutually-advantageous resources, like Jace Beleren or Howling Mine are wonderful for Doran, in moderation. Let them live unless they get out of hand.
G”Land that is surrounded on three sides by competitors and would give the first to get it access to all...is called intersecting ground.” – Sun Tzu, The Art of War
Intersecting ground is political ground. Sometimes you can use your masses of removal to convince a player to take an action in return for a favor, or you can trade a kill spell for an attack. Sun Tzu says to form lines of communication on intersecting ground.
W”When you enter deeply into others’ land, past many cities and towns, this is called heavy ground.” – Sun Tzu, The Art of War
Sometimes, it’s necessary to press an attack. In a situation where you’re attempting to kill off one player, it’s often necessary to destroy his creatures and sometimes even to throw them against their owner. Commit, and use your foe’s resources against him when possible.
B”When you traverse mountain forests, steep defiles, marshes, or any route difficult to travel, this is called bad ground.” – Sun Tzu, The Art of War
On bad ground, Sun Tzu recommends you move on. Even if you should see an opening, it’s sometimes best to ignore it if another opponent has high damage ready to go before you untap.
G”When the way in is narrow and the way out is circuitous, this is called surrounded ground.” – Sun Tzu, The Art of War
If one opponent has an almost overwhelming advantage, it’s important to start coming up with a way to chip away at that advantage. Sometimes, it’s as simple as one well-timed removal spell, but sometimes it might take multiple sweepers. Regardless, plan or die.
W”When you will survive if you fight quickly and perish if you do not, this is called dying ground.” – Sun Tzu, The Art of War
Sometimes the only way to survive an endgame with two powerful opponents is to create an opening for one to fight the other, and that means committing your board in the hope of driving through just enough damage or removing just enough blockers. There’s nothing wrong with using your resources in this way.
Therefore measure in terms of five things, use these assessments to make comparisons, and thus find out what the conditions are. The five things are the way, the weather, the terrain, the leadership, and discipline.” – Sun Tzu, The Art of War
Sun Tzu uses five things to determine the strategic readiness of a country, and we can do the same thing with an opening hand.
Doran’s Way is removal, and it’s important that the opener has at least one piece of spot removal to keep the early game under control. Discipline is land drops and card advantage engines, of which you want at least three and one of, respectively. The rest of an opener relies less on what we want and more on who our opponents are, which is the Weather. The Leadership is our game plan, which is detailed out below. A discussion of Terrain is included in the Ground sidebar.
Therefore a victorious army first wins and then seeks battle; a defeated army first battles and then seeks victory.” – Sun Tzu, The Art of War
The early game is all about finding your ground. I subscribe to the theory that it’s best to be in second or third place in a 4 player game.* If you look like you’re winning, the other players tend to gang up on you, which can be crippling. Conversely, if you look like you’re losing, it’s easy to get blown out by opportunistic enemies. Second place is, ironically, invincible, and third place is close to the same.
In the early game, then, you’re going to want to be constantly observing the table and look for weaknesses at the table. As an example, the pillowfort player has an unbreakable fortress and the token player can’t get in. If the pillowfort player is tapped out, it’s a good time to destroy his enchantments and open him up to the tokens, both so the tokens will be busy and so the pillowfort guy takes the damage. In this phase, it’s important to preserve resources, so proper threat assessment is critical. Only use spot removal if you’re threatened, either by a combo piece hitting the table or by an attack. Instead, wait until someone overextends, then sweep them.
*Sometimes, however, it’s impossible to hold second. If the first-place opponent has to die, it’s important to drop back into second as quickly as you can once he’s dead. Conversely, if you’re forced into the losing position, it’s important to create the illusion of defenses even if you don’t actually have them.
When they see an advantage but do not advance on it, they are weary.” – Sun Tzu, The Art of War
In the middle game, the faster decks and the ones without card advantage engines are going to be starving and tired.* The deck that was winning in the early game might have been ganged up on and crippled, and it’s just hanging on and hoping for a respite to recovered. The surest mark of a transition to the middle game is that someone’s been killed.
In this phase, we’ll move from a defensive posture to a more opportunistic one. As an example, after a sweeper, we have enough mana to cast Doran, equip Slagwurm Armor and Lightning Greaves, and get in for 11 general damage. Since he doesn’t have evasion, he’s not a threat to anyone who can recover, but 11 general damage puts a player on the defensive. At this point, most players will be sweeping the board and dropping threats, so it’s more important to have removal for the single, hard-to-remove threats that will be coming.
*Hand size is a common indicator of a starving or tired opponent. If an opponent is without options, he is starving.
Therefore I have heard of military operations that were clumsy but swift, but I have never seen one that was skillful and lasted a long time. It is never beneficial for a nation to have a military operation continue for a long time.” – Sun Tzu, The Art of War
When it’s time to commit, Sun Tzu says that a clumsy victory is better than a skillful defeat, and the difference is speed. At this point, there should be only two players left. Either your opponent will be mostly intact as well, or he won’t. If he’s not worn down, removal and easily-recurrable engines (e.g. Sun Titan, Glissa, the Traitor) can be used to try to prolong the middle game. However, if he’s used his strength breaking other generals, you can begin your late game.
In the late game, you want to try to stick one of your two game-winning recursion engines (Sheoldred, Whispering One or Debtors’ Knell) and start recurring high-impact creatures like Angel of Despair or your opponent’s best stuff. The other option is a suited-up Doran backed by removal. Either way, it’s important that you can win within three turns, because your opponent is going to be trying to do the same thing, and you’re now playing without politics. By this phase, the board-states are likely very complex, so it’s important to slow down and be sure you’ve accounted for everything you can.
I’ve been playing kitchen-table Magic on and off since Betrayers of Kamigawa, when I piloted the Spiritcraft preconstructed deck against my brother and his Dark Devotion. I found I liked the Soulshift mechanic that showed up in Spiritcraft better than the combo of Heartless Hiditsugu and Overblaze in Dark Devotion, and Green/White became my favorite color combination very quickly.
My breakthrough moment on how Magic should be played came over the cafeteria table in high school. I was playing a heavily-modified Selesnya United preconstructed in multiplayer games, and I realized that there were opportunities to get in for damage with Llanowar Elves when my opponents had no blockers. A year later, the Fun with Fungus preconstructed deck came out, and I learned why black was a good color to have around.
My EDH/Commander experience is a bit more recent. I started with a Lyzolda, the Blood Witch deck that durdled its way to something resembling victory, then upgraded to Mayael, the Anima. I added Zedruu the Greathearted, then the Counterpunch Commander deck came out. I’d originally wanted to play Ghave, Guru of Spores as a way of going back to my cafeteria-table Magic days, but he comboed off with everything, and Karador, Ghost Chieftain was too predictable. Eventually, I settled on Doran.
My current setup is Doran and a pair of untested decks. Nissa, Vastwood Seer is a standard-issue ramp deck, while Alesha, Who Smiles at Death is more aggro/combo oriented.
June 16, 2016:
+Malicious Affliction
+Wrath of God
-Putrefy
-Divine Reckoning
Original Artist: Karl Kopinski
This is the first alter I've made that I felt was worth sharing. It's just an art extension. I used a toothpick to scrape the borders back, so it's not quite perfect, but I like it.
Narset drops Hypersonic Dragon and beats for 4. I look at him and say "We're gonna race!" and flash in Restoration Angel. I draw my two cards, Sheoldred, Whispering One and Debtor's Knell, cast them both against tapped-out Narset, and swing for 3. I pass, Narset casts Decree of Justice for 6 4/4 Angels and passes back. I reanimate Sun Titan grabbing Qasali Pride-Mage, and Netherborn Phalanx, dealing 6, and pass. Narset swings with the angels and I block one, taking 16. He thinks, and then grins and taps out to cast Demonfire for 16 with me at 15. I smile back, sacrifice my Sun Titan to Miren, the Moaning Well for 6 life, then reanimate Sun Titan for Slagwurm Armor, Restoration Angel bouncing Sun Titan for Sword of Feast and Famine, equip, cast Doran, and swing for exactly lethal.
Mayael the Anima - 5.5. Pretty stock deck with a lot of fatties and ways to get several Mayael activations per turn. It's playing a lot of big creatures that come attached to removal, so I joke that it's a control deck. It has a hard time dealing with opposing board-wipes.
Zedruu the Greathearted - 3. It's got my highest win percentage because people don't believe it's a threat. It mostly durdles, then wins by giving away a Delaying Shield after all the other players have been eliminated.
Gisela, Blade of Goldnight - 5. Voltron is always scary if it's not interrupted, but it's fragile. The Sunforger package gives it a lot of resilience compared to straight Voltron, but it's not exactly oppressive in a group with removal.
1 Sorin, Grim Nemesis
2 Narset Transcendent
2 Jace, Unraveler of Secrets
2 Ob Nixilis Reignited
Creatures (1)
1 Sphinx of the Final Word
Instants (15)
2 Silumgar's Command
2 Negate
3 Ultimate Price
4 Anticipate
4 Grasp of Darkness
Sorceries (10)
1 Descend upon the Sinful
1 Ruinous Path
2 Duress
3 Dark Petition
3 Languish
1 Port Town
4 Prairie Stream
3 Choked Estuary
4 Sunken Hollow
1 Caves of Koilos
3 Shambling Vent
4 Evolving Wilds
1 Island
1 Plains
5 Swamp
1 Infinite Obliteration
1 Learn from the Past
1 To the Slaughter
1 Virulent Plague
2 Anguished Unmaking
2 Dispel
2 Dragonlord Silumgar
2 Ojutai's Command
3 Jace, Vryn's Prodigy
Here's where I'm at right now. I'm not siding in JVP vs. everything, but he's been making a difference when he does come in. I'm still on the Jace train for now. I'm open to discuss, critique, or otherwise tear apart my list.
Round One: Red/Black Dragons (2-0): His strategy involved using the red thopter-producing creatures to clog up the game until the dragons could take over, with Westvale Abbey as a backup plan. Game One, I swept the board twice and had spot removal for his Thunderbreak Regent, then Sphinx and a few walkers took over. Game Two, I got out Virulent Plague to stop the token rush, then had to deal with back to back to back Dragonlord Kolaghan. Once that was done with, I was able to stabilize with Sorin and then take the match.
Round Two: Mono-Red Eldrazi (0-2): I have a hard time figuring this matchup out, to be honest. It seems like so much of what they do is must-answer, and Chandra is a real problem for me. In the first game, I got ran over by elementals after fighting through Thought-Knot Seer and some thopter tokens. I boarded in 2 Anguished Unmaking, 2 Dragonlord Silumgar, and some Transgress the Mind. Game Two, I made a misplay when I attacked his Chandra with a Shambling Vent instead of dropping Sorin and using him to nuke her for the life. His next swing was a Reality Smasher and 2 elementals for 13, exactly lethal.
Round Three: Red/Black Vampires (0-2): Game One, I stabilized at 8, only to die to burn a few turns later when I tapped out to cast a Narset. Game Two, I got in three swings with a Shambling Vent before he realized it had lifelink, then never saw him play a creature for Sorin to feast on, while dying to burn.
Round Four: W/B Humans (2-0): Game One, the poor guy ran into two Languish by turn 6, then refused to go down until Sphinx beat him to death. Game two, I sided in Jace, Vryn's Prodigy and Dragonlord Silumgar. There was one point where I ultimated Jace, Vryn's Prodigy with Narset Transcendent and Ob Nixilis Reignited on the field, only to have him flash in Archangel Avacyn and follow it up with an Ob of his own, blowing up my fresh Jace, Vryn's Prodigy and killing my Ob with Avacyn. Two turns later, I got to live the dream and cast Dragonlord Silumgar, taking his 3 loyalty Ob and nuking his Mindwrack Demon with it for what ended up being a 3 for 1. Eventually, he milled out.
Round 5: W/G Humans (1-2) Game One, I had spot removal for his first four plays and was able to run him out, then begin the process of picking away at his life total until I found Sphinx. I sided in Jace, Vryn's Prodigy, Dragonlord Silumgar, and Infinite Obliteration. Game Two, I mulled to 6, kept a 2-lander with three Anticipate and a Languish, and died to the Humans deck's magical Christmas hand. Game Three, I stabilized for a while but couldn't find a 6th mana until it was too late.
What I learned:
Overall, I'm disappointed but not saddened by my results. It's all just things to think about for the future. I'll be retooling the sideboard and posting my updated list for critique.
...that doesn't help you defend your points and it doesn't make you seem serious, it just makes you seem angry. We're all trying to, as you said in the title, "rejoice and be merry", but it's hard when one person is repeatedly insulting and belittling the others. This is the last time I'll ask you to stop. Please, try not to be so sure of yourself that you can't accept critique. Now...
@Dusk 707: I'd consider cutting a Dispel or a Negate for the Virulent Plague, probably leaning toward the Negate if you expect lots of Company. My reasoning is that between your discard and your counter suite, you'll probably be able to handle the first Company or two and stabilize, and once you've got walkers on the board, it's going to get tougher for them to win.
1 Sorin, Grim Nemisis
2 Narset Transcendent
2 Jace, Unraveler of Secrets
2 Ob Nixilis Reignited
Creatures (1)
1 Sphinx of the Final Word
Spells (25)
1 Anguished Unmaking
2 Ruinous Path
2 Silumgar’s Command
2 Spell Shrivel
3 Dark Petition
3 Ultimate Price
4 Grasp of Darkness
4 Anticipate
4 Languish
1 Island
1 Plains
5 Swamp
1 Port Town
4 Prairie Stream
1 Caves of Koilos
3 Shambling Vent
3 Choked Estuary
4 Sunken Hollow
4 Evolving Wilds
2 Anguished Unmaking
2 Duress
2 Transgress the Mind
1 Descend upon the Sinful
1 Dragonlord Ojutai
1 Flaying Tendrils
1 Infinite Obliteration
1 Learn from the Past
1 Virulent Plague
3 Jace, Vryn’s Prodigy
0 Jace, Telpath Unbound
Most of the differences between my list and Manfield's are in the sideboard, but I am choosing to run a deck that's a bit less focused on beating aggro in response to my local meta. I'm also not sure I'm happy with the manabase, and may even cut a singleton Port Town for a Swamp. With only 4 W symbols in my mainboard and another 5 in the Sideboard, I feel like I might be able to cut down on my white sources.
Speaking of the Sideboard, I liked the idea of siding in Jace, Vryn's Prodigy and a dragon like Manfield did, so I've got that package in there, though I'm still torn on whether Ojutai is the correct of the two dragons. I'll never have a counterspell to protect him, and if he doesn't make contact at least once, he's a giant mana sink. Silumgar, though, can be a 2 or even 3-for-1 against a walker like Sorin or Chandra, even if he's removed before he gets a chance to swing, and he beats Avacyn in the air and trades with almost everything. Second, I have a discard suite in the form of 2 Duress and 2 Transgress the Mind. I think this is flexible enough to work well against a wide variety of threats.
Finally, I have the package. Descend upon the Sinful is my go-to for when I need a sweeper against something like Mono-Red Eldrazi, since it hits everything and exiles. It's marginally easier to activate Delirium post-sideboard as well. Flaying Tendrils is good against the Eldrazi decks, as well as against White Weenie in certain situations (I'd probably board it in on the play but out on the draw, since they'll have had another turn to pump up if they're playing first). Infinite Obliteration[/card gets worse in multiples, but with Dark Petition I can fire it off turn 5 no matter where in the deck it is, and it's good vs. Ramp and other decks with only a few big threats. [vard]Learn from the Past gets a slot because there's at least one guy playing mill with Startled Awake. Virulent Plague goes a long way toward beating tokens. And finally, Anguished Unmaking is my answer to any matchup that's trying to win with noncreatures.
One interaction I miss but just don't have room for (unless I cut something from the sideboard) is Ojutai's Command with Jace. All four modes are good, but none of them quite seem stellar here, especially with what I'm trying to do in the sideboard.
I've been thinking more about running a toolbox for Dark Petition, and I'm not sure it's a good idea in the mainboard. However, if we pumped up the number of Petitions to 3, we could modify the sideboard to carry more unique answers. Just a thought.